EU hits Philips, LG, Samsung, others with $1.9B antitrust fine

A ring of Philips flat-panel TVs.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)
European antitrust authorities have imposed a series of fines against former producers of cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions and computer displays for “cartel” activity, amounting to 1.47 billion euros ($1.92 billion) in total.
The companies were charged under EU antitrust and competition law with fixing prices in the CRT television market — a long-lived technology that was gradually replaced by alternatives such as liquid-crystal display (LCD) and plasma displays — for a decade ending in 2006.
In a statement today, the…